Best of 2012 - National Geographic Magazine Photos of the Year

Martin Schoeller

Six-year-old Johanna Gill puts a protective hand on her sister, Eva. The twins both have mild autism, a disorder linked to genetic inheritance.

More than 900 images were published in National Geographic this year. Editor in Chief Chris Johns chose his top ten. “Invariably the best photographs will always surprise you. You’ll see something you couldn’t have imagined,” he says.

Aaron Huey

Stanley Good Voice Elk, a heyoka on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, burns sage to ritually purify his surroundings. In Oglala spirituality, heyokas are recipients of sacred visions who employ clownish speech and behavior to provoke spiritual awareness and "keep balance," says Good Voice Elk. Through his mask, he channels the power of an inherited spirit, which transforms him into Spider Respects Nothing.

Watch Editor in Chief Chris Johns discuss his picks in a video from the December digital edition of National Geographic.

Aaron Huey

A passenger barely has room for the journey home as a car is loaded with used clothing donated by a Colorado-based Native American charity. Contrary to popular myth, Native Americans do not automatically receive a monthly federal check and are not exempt from taxes. The Oglala Lakota and other Sioux tribes have refused a monetary settlement for the U.S.'s illegal seizure of the Black Hills, their spiritual home.

Watch Editor in Chief Chris Johns discuss his picks in a video from the December digital edition of National Geographic.

Stephanie Sinclair

Eleven-year-old Turki Ahmed flies a kite amid the rubble of Sadah, a northern antigovernment stronghold near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia. His ten-year-old cousin Afnan Hussein Ali Jarallah al Tamani scampers behind him. Since 2004 an insurgency in the north has destroyed much of the city, left hundreds dead, and driven more than 100,000 from their homes.

Watch Editor in Chief Chris Johns discuss his picks in a video from the December digital edition of National Geographic.

Karla Gachet and Ivan Kashinsky

Beyond Buzescu's mansion district, a kitchen belonging to a hard pressed Romani family serves as a dance hall for Iasmina Iancu, six, twirling for her grandfather Ion, who raises her. Iasmina's mother works in Spain. Many households contain only old and young, the rest scattered across Europe to earn money.

Watch Editor in Chief Chris Johns discuss his picks in a video from the December digital edition of National Geographic.

Paolo Pellegrin

Markers of a richly Cuban outing at Havana’s Parque Lenin: the clicking of dominoes, the head-to-toe white clothing of a Santería adherent, and a Russian sedan likely kept running with transplanted parts.

Watch Editor in Chief Chris Johns discuss his picks in a video from the December digital edition of National Geographic.

Paul Nicklen

Emperor penguins can bolt away for any number of reasons, as photographer Paul Nicklen discovered when he spooked this group. "A tenth of a second after I took this picture, all I could see were bubbles."

Watch Editor in Chief Chris Johns discuss his picks in a video from the December digital edition of National Geographic.

Michael "Nick" Nichols

Cloaked in the snows of California's Sierra Nevada, the 3,200-year-old giant sequoia called the President rises 247 feet. Two other sequoias have wider trunks, but none has a larger crown, say the scientists who climbed it. The figure at top seems taller than the other climbers because he's standing forward on one of the great limbs.

Watch Editor in Chief Chris Johns discuss his picks in a video from the December digital edition of National Geographic.